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Elevating your Python & R, AI & ML Strategy
Anaconda Team Edition, Constructor, Conda-Pack, Docker
December 2, 2020

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Agenda
● The conda package & environment management system
● Anaconda Team Edition: an enterprise AI / ML package repository
○ The importance of curated CVEs for security
● Managing conda environments for collaboration & distribution
● Tools for distributing conda environments:
○ Constructor & Conda-Pack
● Docker, conda, & OpenShift: a brief look

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A brief look at Conda

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The conda package format
● Cross-platform
○ Windows, Mac, Linux (x86/ARM/PPC), z/OS
● Cross-language
○ Python, R, Rust, Go…
● Rich metadata
○ License information facilitates governance
○ Dependency graph ensures package compatibility and environment correctness
● Binary package format
○ Packages are precompiled
○ Dynamic linking reduces vendoring (improving governance) and ensures cross-compatibility

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Anaconda Team Edition

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Team Edition - CVE Curation Process
The National Institute of
Standards and
Technology(NIST) National
Vulnerability Database
(NVD)
CVE Data Source.
Associating NVD CVE data
with packages in the
Anaconda Repository
Automated Matching.
Anaconda staff review NVD
CVE data for accuracy and
then categorize, refine and
improve the reported
information. In some cases,
CVEs are patched
Human Curation.
Accurate CVE metadata
allows organizations to
filter out OSS packages
that don’t meet their
security requirements
Refined CVE Metadata.
Goal: high-quality, accurate, and dependable CVE information
Performed by Anaconda Distribution Team

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Team Edition - CVE Curation Example

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Environment Management
Distributing packages ready to use

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Why standardize environments?
● Reduces support burden
○ Encourages use of mature, stable, widely adopted packages
● Encourages collaboration
○ Everyone is using a common package set
○ Common tool choices make it easier for people to help each other
● Ensures portability and deployability
○ Cross-platform (Windows -> Linux) more feasible
○ Potentially tighter requirements for production than development
● All that said: allowing customization is important

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Environment types
● Standard Python 3.x
● Python 2.x (for legacy applications only?)
● R (with/without Python?)
● GPU-enabled

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Environment destinations
● Desktops
● Edge nodes
● JupyterHub
● Anaconda Enterprise
● Third-party platforms (Domino, Cloudera DSW)
● Clusters: Spark, Dask, HPC/GPU
● Containerized applications: Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift
● ???

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Specification rendering
● Layer 1: Global environment specifications
○ Minimal version pinning (e.g., Python / Scikit-Learn / NumPy / Pandas / Tensorflow / CUDA)
○ Objective: general major version decisionmaking
○ No platform-specific exceptions, except for package omissions on certain platforms
● Layer 2: Precise pinning of top-level specifications
○ Find a common set of precise version pins for Layer 1 specs only
○ Objective: cross platform compatibility
○ Platform-specific exceptions included as needed
● Layer 3: Fully realized specifications
○ All packages & dependencies identified and versioned down to the build

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Specification rendering: Example
Minimal pinning
python 3.6
scikit-learn 0.22
numpy 1.18
pandas 1.0
tensorflow >1.10,<2
notebook
Full top-level pinning
python 3.6.10
scikit-learn 0.22.1
numpy 1.18.1
pandas 1.0.3
tensorflow 1.13.2
notebook 6.0.3
Final specification ready for rendering
absl-py-0.9.0-py36_0 appnope-0.1.0-py36hf537a9a_0 astor-0.8.0-py36_0 attrs-19.3.0-py_0 backcall-0.1.0-py36_0 blas-1.0-mkl bleach-3.1.4-py_0 c-ares-1.15.0-h1de35cc_1001
ca-certificates-2020.1.1-0 certifi-2020.4.5.1-py36_0 dbus-1.13.14-h517e14e_0 decorator-4.4.2-py_0 defusedxml-0.6.0-py_0 entrypoints-0.3-py36_0 expat-2.2.6-h0a44026_0
gast-0.3.3-py_0 gettext-0.19.8.1-hb0f4f8b_2 glib-2.63.1-h70d4741_1 grpcio-1.16.1-py36h044775b_1 h5py-2.10.0-py36h3134771_0 hdf5-1.10.4-hfa1e0ec_0 icu-58.2-h0a44026_3
importlib-metadata-1.6.0-py36_0 importlib_metadata-1.6.0-0 intel-openmp-2019.4-233 ipykernel-5.1.4-py36h39e3cac_0 ipython-7.13.0-py36h5ca1d4c_0
ipython_genutils-0.2.0-py36_0 ipywidgets-7.5.1-py_0 jedi-0.17.0-py36_0 jinja2-2.11.2-py_0 joblib-0.15.1-py_0 jpeg-9b-he5867d9_2 jsonschema-3.2.0-py36_0
jupyter-1.0.0-py36_7 jupyter_client-6.1.3-py_0 jupyter_console-6.1.0-py_0 jupyter_core-4.6.3-py36_0 keras-applications-1.0.8-py_0 keras-preprocessing-1.1.0-py_1
libcxx-10.0.0-1 libedit-3.1.20181209-hb402a30_0 libffi-3.3-h0a44026_1 libgfortran-3.0.1-h93005f0_2 libiconv-1.16-h1de35cc_0 libpng-1.6.37-ha441bb4_0
libprotobuf-3.12.3-hab81aa3_0 libsodium-1.0.16-h3efe00b_0 llvm-openmp-10.0.0-h28b9765_0 markdown-3.1.1-py36_0 markupsafe-1.1.1-py36h1de35cc_0
mistune-0.8.4-py36h1de35cc_0 mkl-2019.4-233 mkl-service-2.3.0-py36hfbe908c_0 mkl_fft-1.0.15-py36h5e564d8_0 mkl_random-1.1.1-py36h959d312_0 nbconvert-5.6.1-py36_0
nbformat-5.0.6-py_0 ncurses-6.2-h0a44026_1 notebook-6.0.3-py36_0 numpy-1.18.1-py36h7241aed_0 numpy-base-1.18.1-py36h3304bdc_1 openssl-1.1.1g-h1de35cc_0
pandas-1.0.3-py36h6c726b0_0 pandoc-2.2.3.2-0 pandocfilters-1.4.2-py36_1 parso-0.7.0-py_0 pcre-8.43-h0a44026_0 pexpect-4.8.0-py36_0 pickleshare-0.7.5-py36_0
pip-20.0.2-py36_3 prometheus_client-0.7.1-py_0 prompt-toolkit-3.0.5-py_0 prompt_toolkit-3.0.5-0 protobuf-3.12.3-py36hb1e8313_0 ptyprocess-0.6.0-py36_0
pygments-2.6.1-py_0 pyqt-5.9.2-py36h655552a_2 pyrsistent-0.16.0-py36h1de35cc_0 python-3.6.10-hf48f09d_2 python-dateutil-2.8.1-py_0 pytz-2020.1-py_0
pyzmq-18.1.1-py36h0a44026_0 qt-5.9.7-h468cd18_1 qtconsole-4.7.4-py_0 qtpy-1.9.0-py_0 readline-8.0-h1de35cc_0 scikit-learn-0.22.1-py36h27c97d8_0
scipy-1.4.1-py36h9fa6033_0 send2trash-1.5.0-py36_0 setuptools-47.1.1-py36_0 sip-4.19.8-py36h0a44026_0 six-1.15.0-py_0 sqlite-3.31.1-h5c1f38d_1 tensorboard-1.13.1-py36_0
tensorflow-1.13.2-hfddd6c2_0 tensorflow-base-1.13.2-py36_0 tensorflow-estimator-1.13.0-py36h24bf2e0_0 termcolor-1.1.0-py36_1 terminado-0.8.3-py36_0 testpath-0.4.4-py_0
tk-8.6.8-ha441bb4_0 tornado-6.0.4-py36h1de35cc_1 traitlets-4.3.3-py36_0 wcwidth-0.1.9-py_0 webencodings-0.5.1-py36_1 werkzeug-1.0.1-py_0 wheel-0.34.2-py36_0
widgetsnbextension-3.5.1-py36_0 xz-5.2.5-h1de35cc_0 zeromq-4.3.1-h0a44026_3 zipp-3.1.0-py_0 zlib-1.2.11-h1de35cc_3

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Environment rendering
The primary output of the specification rendering process is an environment
specification file—a simple text file of precise conda package specifications
Additional rendering outputs:
● Conda metapackages
● Constructor installers
● conda-pack redistributables
● Hadoop parcels
● Docker images
Leverage automation processes (e.g., Jenkins) for automatic building

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Versioning and archiving
● All rendered environments are versioned and archived
○ Ensures reproducibility of legacy models
● New projects should, by default, be pointed to the “latest” environment
○ Symbolic link: “environment-latest” -> “environment-2020.06.01”
● It should be easy to connect to recent historical environments
○ Ensures stability of longer-term model development
○ Exceptions made for environments pulled for vulnerability remediation
● For production, move off of “latest” to the corresponding version
○ Or to a fully specified custom environment
● A regular update cadence gives users predictability

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Distributing Conda Environments
Constructor, Conda-Pack

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The conda package manager is GREAT at creating highly customized Python & R
environments
● Dependency metadata ensures I get all the packages I need—even the ones I
didn’t know I needed
● I can pin the package versions I care about as precisely as I want, and let
conda give me the latest compatible versions of everything else
Every data scientist can tailor their environment to precisely serve their needs
Motivation

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But now that I have the perfect environment, how do I…
● Share it with my team members or even my entire department
● Distribute it to 100 different machines (e.g., Spark / Dask)
● Safely archive it so I can recover it, months or years later
What tools are at my disposal?
Motivation

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conda list --export > environment.txt
conda create -n env_name --file environment.txt
conda env export > env.yml
conda env create -f env.yml
Commands like these often do the job—until they don’t…
● What if the target machines don’t have conda installed?
● What if the recipient is a conda novice?
● What if the packages are no longer available in my repository?
● What if I’m building environments for air-gapped computers?
Environment specs?

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Constructor and Conda-Pack provide two freely available, open source tools to
bundle conda environments into sharable, transportable, archivable assets
● Constructor: user-friendly, custom installers similar to the Anaconda and
Miniconda installers distributed by Anaconda
● Conda-Pack: simple, compact archives of environments for lower-level or
automated approaches to distribution and management
Addressing the challenge: two tools

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Constructor

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● https://github.com/conda/constructor
● Builds custom installers for a valid conda environment
● Gives users the same installer experience they are already accustomed to
○ GUI installers for Mac and Windows
○ Shell installers for Linux and Mac
● Provides lots of customization options
○ Custom package sets
○ Conda configuration settings
○ Logos and branding
Conda Constructor

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How it works
● Reads the construct.yaml file
● Calls conda in “dry run” mode to fully resolve environment specifications
● Downloads the necessary conda packages
● Combines the conda packages and install scripting into an OS-dependent
executable installer format
○ Linux/Mac: POSIX-shell based installer
○ Windows: NSIS-based GUI installer
○ Mac: macOS standard GUI installer

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The results

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● condarc: preinstall a custom configuration for conda upon install
○ channel_alias: point conda to an internal repository
○ default_channels : what does “defaults” mean?
○ ssl_verify: silence those pesky SSL issues
● channels_remap: maps build channels to install channels
○ Build an installer against one repository (e.g., Anaconda) for use in an internal environment
connected to another repository (e.g., Team Edition, Artifactory, Nexus)
○ The package metadata is modified so that the installed packages appear to have come from
the internal repository originally
● exclude: exclude certain packages from installation
○ readline: if you want to build a GPL-free installer
○ anaconda: removing the metapackage makes for more flexible customization by the user
Advanced options

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name: Sortaconda
version: 2020.10.01
installer_type: all
channels_remap:
- src: https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/main/
dst: https://repo.company.com/api/repo
- src: https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/msys2/ # [win]
dst: https://repo.company.com/api/repo/msys2/ # [win]
specs:
- python=3.6.10
- conda=4.8.4
- anaconda=2020.02
exclude:
- anaconda
condarc:
channel_alias: https://repo.company.com/api/re po
The construct.yaml file

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Conda-Pack

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● https://github.com/conda/conda-pack
● Creates a simple, standard-format archive (.tar.gz, .zip, etc.)
● ...but… conda environments are not relocatable
○ Moving a conda environment to a different directory can render it inoperable
○ Conda employs special relocation logic that “adjusts” packages as they are installed so they
operate correctly at the install location
● conda-pack solves this in one of two ways
○ Normal mode: it includes a script called conda-unpack that can be run after unpacking that
reproduces conda’s relocation logic
○ Fixed destination mode: the archive is be “pre-adjusted” for the destination. It must be installed
in that directory, but no post-install script is required
● new development: Cloudera parcel support
Conda-Pack

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● As simple as: conda-pack -n <env>
○ Produces a file <env>.tar.gz
● Common options:
conda-pack -n <env> # or -p <path>
--format <format> # tar, zip, tar.gz, …
--output <filename> # <env>.<format>
--dest-prefix <path> # for known destinations
--exclude <pattern> # excludes files
--include <pattern> # re-include files
Calling convention

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● File format nearly identical to standard conda-pack
● As simple as: conda-pack -n <env> --format parcel
● All parcel-specific options
conda-pack -n <environment> --format parcel
--parcel-name <name> # env name
--parcel-version <version> # YYYY.MM.DD
--parcel-distro <distro> # el7
--parcel-root <root> # /opt/cloudera/parcels
● In pre-release: conda install ctools/label/dev::conda-pack
Parcel support

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Packing examples

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● Deliver archive to destination machine
● Create the target directory
● Unpack the archive into the destination directory
● Activate: source <path>/bin/activate
With a standard conda-pack archive (no --dest-prefix):
● Finish relocation: <path>/bin/conda-unpack
That’s it! Environment is now fully usable in its new location
Unpacking a conda-pack archive

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Unpacking example

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Conda, Docker, & OpenShift
A brief look

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Building Docker containers for OpenShift
● Ensuring the application runs as any UID
○ Group writable (GID 0)
○ Use nss_wrapper for username setting if necessary
● Deliver / build the conda environment within the container
● Bake activation into the entrypoint
Motivation

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Wrapping up

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● Start getting to know conda if you haven’t already
● Check out constructor & conda-pack
○ https://github.com/conda/constructor
○ https://github.com/conda/conda-pack
● Grab my simple Docker demo
○ https://github.com/mcg1969/webinar-docker
● Connect with me on LinkedIn!
○ https://www.linkedin.com/in/mcgrant/
Thank you!
Next steps

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Q & A

Thank You!
Michael Grant
mgrant@anaconda.com

About Anaconda
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